A new athlete, a new Olympics
When was the last time you watched the Olympics and really thought about what makes athletes set world records? It’s not just their relentless drive, their physical prowess or their ability to defy the rules of physics. Sometimes, athletes are winning because of the carefully crafted objects in their lives. The entrepreneurs, who create the innovations that enable athletes to become slightly super human, are frequently as responsible for the shattering of records. Entrepreneurs have pushed the Olympics past the toga clad open sandal events and into the world of intensely focused scientific re-invention.
Speedo created swimsuits that use the athlete’s body as a mold, thereby engineering a covering that turns the human body into an aerodynamic weapon. The outfits have almost zero drag. “In February, Speedo introduced its LZR swimsuit and 38 of the 42 world swimming records broken since then were by swimmers wearing the suit — which has no seams and takes 20 minutes to get into.”
Nike is also on the forefront in the fight to create these super athletes by having recently developed a shoe that is 41% lighter than the lightest shoe ever created. In doing so, they are attempting to develop something that is both light and strong. “Flywire…. uses only the barest exoskeleton of wispy, high-tech filaments — roughly 7 linear feet of thread, affixed to an ultrathin fabric scrim — to provide its structure and shape (think of a space-age Roman sandal).”
“It opens up new frontiers,” says Jay Meschter, Flywire’s lead designer. “Analog stitching is gone. This is a digitally programmed shoe. Everybody realizes this is a smarter way to build shoes, and it’s just going to pervade everything we do.”
These entrepreneurial inventions are changing the face of sports. No longer is the best athlete the one with the greatest physical prowess but now frequently the one with the best access to new and evolving innovations. Entrepreneurs are creating the new breed of athlete because they are creating the garments that bring athletes to new heights. They are also bringing different markets to the athletes by combining the worlds of fashion, sports and science in a truly global environment. This is what Global Entrepreneurship Week is about- melding different fields, in new ways, to change our environments.
Do you have other stories to share with us? In the next month, I will be highlighting stories that relate entrepreneurship to the Olympics and would love to hear your thoughts and ideas.
